Bonds
by Strifegirl
Summary: Denzel is having trouble with some bullies at school and Cloud tries to cheer him up. While they talk in private, he doesn't realize that Tifa was listening to every word of their conversation. A year later after AC. Cloti fluff


_**A/N: Hi there Cloti fans! Here's a small demostration of Cloud's paternal side towards Denzel :3 so I hope you like it ^^**_

_**and as usual... **__**I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Square-enix owns Final Fantasy and its characters. There is no copyright infringement intended.**_

_**Enjoy the Fic! ;3**_

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><p><strong>"Bonds"<strong>

After hearing the bell, Denzel gathers his things and heads for home on 7th Heaven.

Along the way, he meets a group of children, a little bigger than him. Denzel ignores them and tries to walk past them.

One of the children stepped into his way, forcing Denzel to stop. The other three children begin to gather around him and that's when he tries to escape and runs as fast as he can. When he reached the corner, his foot stumbles against a curb and falls to ground. Stunned by the fall, he tries to get up but the children came to him first and grabbed his arms to pull him up. One of them stands in front of Denzel, while others hold him tight. The boy hits Denzel in the stomach and Denzel falls down on his knees complaining of the pain. The children begin to mock him and then leave. Humiliated and angry, Denzel gathers his things from the ground and goes back to 7th Heaven.

When he finally arrived to the bar, he finds Tifa, who was still cleaning some dishes.

"Hello Denzel," she greets him with a warm smile. "How was school?"

Denzel doesn't respond and simply lowers his head as he walked to the small door from the counter. Tifa notices his eyes filled with sorrow and tries to encourage him a little.

"Hey, would you like to try the new dish I prepared?" She said, smiling.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry." He said simply and retired to his room. It was the first time that Denzel acted that way since the incident of Geostigma.

Concerned about his strange behavior, Tifa leaves what she's doing and goes upstairs to try to talk to Denzel. She opened the door of the room, and found Denzel lying on his bed facing the wall. Tifa approaches and sits on the edge of his bed.

"Honey, are you all right?" She asks as he strokes his hair.

Denzel grabs his sheet and covers his head up. "Leave me alone." He muttered under the covers.

"Did something happen at school?" She asked concerned.

Denzel didn't reply back and just rolled under the sheet.

"Sweetie, you know you can tell me anything ..."

"I don't want to talk about it!" he said suddenly.

Confused, Tifa looks down and stands up. "Okay." She said sadly. "I'll be downstairs if you need me." She leaned over and kissed him on the head and then goes back to what she was doing.

Minutes later, Cloud and Marlene arrives from shopping. They placed the groceries on the counter and then Marlene head to the kitchen to find Tifa. Seeing that she wasn't there, Marlene goes upstairs to look for Denzel and finds Tifa on the stairs.

"Hi Tifa!" she said cheerful.

"Hi honey. How did it go with the shopping? "

"Fine! We brought a lot of things. By the way, has Denzel returned from school? "

"Yes, but he's resting now."

"Resting?" Marlene leaned his head to one side. "Is he sick?"

"I don't know. I guess he's just a bit tired, so we'd better let him sleep. " She winked as she puts a finger on her lips.

"All right then. I'll go watch TV with my Moogle. " She said cheerful and went to the living room.

Tifa trailed off for a moment as she thought about Denzel. Cloud sees her concern and brings her back from her trance.

"Is something wrong?" He asked worried.

Tifa snaps from her thoughts and shook her head. "I'm just a little concerned about Denzel." She said thoughtfully. "He is acting very strange." She lowers her head.

"Have you tried talking to him?" Cloud raised an eyebrow.

Tifa let out a sigh. "He doesn't want to speak to me..." She shrugged.

"I see..." Cloud lowers his gaze while he analyzes the situation.

"Well, he might feel better afterwards, right?" She smiled.

"I suppose..."

"In that case, I'll take a look at the food you brought."

And with that, Tifa goes back to the kitchen to continue with her tasks, while Cloud goes to his office to review some papers.

After a few hours, Cloud returns to the kitchen to get something to drink. The bar was closed that day due to inventory and Cloud took the opportunity to take the day off. As he drank his soda, he realized that Denzel was sitting on the entrance of the bar. Cloud watches him carefully and then takes another drink from the refrigerator and goes to Denzel.

Denzel was deep in thought and didn't noticed when Cloud arrived until he approached him.

"Want something to cool you down a bit?" Cloud offered him the soda while he drank his.

Denzel was surprised to see him there and looks at Cloud with a puzzled look. Then he took the soda and looks down to the can.

"Thank you." He said simply.

Cloud sits by his side with his soda in hand while Denzel tries to open his.

"Tifa said that you were acting strange..." Cloud sipped his drink. "Is something wrong?"

"No..." Denzel shook his head slightly. "I'm just a little tired, tha's all." He trailed off.

"I see..." Cloud turned his gaze to his drink.

Silence surrounded them for a while until finally Denzel let out a few words.

"Hey Cloud," Cloud turned to see him. "Have you ever had problems with bullies?" He asked as he squeezed the can.

"And... Why the question? " He arched an eyebrow.

"Nothing special." He lowered his head.

Cloud stares at him expecting to see a reaction and Denzel blushes as he felt his eyes on him. Cloud smirked and then looks back up to answer his question.

"All the time." He replied as he closed his eyes.

Surprised, Denzel looks back at him. Cloud opens one eye to spy on him and Denzel looks away when he saw him staring.

"Ever since I was very young, all the other children from my village treated me like some kind of freak. And not just kids, but also adults."

"But, why?" he asked confused.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I guess it was because they didn't like me." He said indifferent. "Or maybe it was because I didn't like them." He smirked sarcastically.

Denzel looks at him as he listens intently. He found it hard to believe that someone as strong as Cloud might have had such problems as a child. He doesn't seem to be the kind of person who would let others mock him, but rather the opposite.

"I always wanted to play with everyone, but I was never allowed into the group. Then later, I began to think that I was different and I started to get into fights with everyone because of that."

Denzel lowered his head.

"I used to think they were all stupid for being so immature." He stopped for a moment and closed his eyes for a bit. "But then, I realized that I was the stupid..."

"What was it that made you change your mind?" Asked Denzel.

Cloud smiled for a moment, then looks to the sky.

"Tifa."

"Tifa?" Denzel raised an eyebrow.

Cloud nodded his head. "We both lived in the same town, remember?"

"Oh yes, I remember now!"

"We were very different back then, but she always wanted me to get along with the others, but I was so prejudiced that I even thought she was like the others." Cloud smiled at the memory.

Denzel chuckled a bit.

"All that time I thought that if I acted tough I would win their respect. But it was the other way around. Gradually, I came to realize that the more I've got into fights, the more enemies I would have. So, I stopped fighting with the other children and just ignore them."

"I wish it was that easy..." Denzel sighed and looked down.

"Don't worry. Whatever it is, they will always be the fools. The reason why many bullies are looking for a fight is because they are jealous of the others." Cloud put his hand on his shoulder. "The best thing to do is ignore them, and if that's not enough... then call me and I'll make sure they won't bother you again." He winked.

A smile appeared on Denzel's lips after hearing that, but then he frowned when he realized something.

"Wait, you said that if they get jealous, they are the ones looking for trouble, but then... Why did you get into fights with the other kids?" he asked puzzled.

Cloud's face changed drastically when he heard his question and then turns his head the other side to hide the slight blush on his cheeks.

"Well... Let's just say they had something I wanted." He said a little flushed.

"Which was...?" He asked curiously.

Cloud turned his head towards him and gave him a smirk. "I'll tell you when you grow up."

Denzel stretched his mouth after hearing his lame excuse but then smiles at him. "You Promise?" he asked doubtful.

Cloud chuckled a bit and ruffled his hair playfully. "Of course." He smirked.

Denzel recovered his usual spirit. It was not very often that he would chat with Cloud like this, but when he did he always made him feel better. It was like the big brother he always wanted.

"Well, you'd better go finish your homework or you'll get in trouble with Tifa." He teased.

"Yeah!" He said cheerful and then gets up to go back inside. When he reaches the door, Denzel stops and turns around to see Cloud.

"Hey, Cloud!" Cloud turned his head to see him. "Thank you." Denzel smiled.

That smile was all he needed to know that he was doing a good job as a parent. Cloud nodded his head and Denzel returns happily to his room to finish their homework.

Meanwhile, Cloud stays for a moment as he finishes drinking his soda and like Denzel, he goes inside to continue with his work.

"I don't know whether to feel jealous or proud that he prefers you more than me." Said a female voice.

"Tifa?" Cloud said surprised. "How long have you been here?"

"Since... _I used to think they were all stupid…_ " She teased.

Cloud chuckles as he scratches the back of his head. "You know, it's rude to listen to other people's talks." He raised an eyebrow and smirked playfully.

"I know." She slowly approaches Cloud. "But I couldn't help it when I heard you said my name." Tifa narrows her eyes at him.

Cloud blushes when he realized that she heard his entire conversation with Denzel and tries to act normal.

"By the way, one thing caught my attention..." She said thoughtfully and Cloud swallowed nervously. "What was it that the others had that you wanted?" she asked curious.

"Well... that was... um..." his words drowned in his throat trying to hide the truth from her and Tifa simply stared at him with a smile on her face. She already knew what it was, but she wanted to hear him say it.

"Well...?" she teased him a bit.

Not knowing what to say, Cloud let out a sigh and has no choice but to confess the secret of his childhood.

"The reason I got into those fights was because... I wanted to get your attention." He blushed slightly. "I was angry with myself for my weakness and I was afraid you'd never want to speak to me for being different." Cloud's face looked like a child who was about to be punished and Tifa couldn't help hold the desire to hug him.

"Oh Cloud ..." she wrapped her arms around him and Cloud is surprised to feel the grip. He wasn't expecting that reaction from her but he didn't complain either. After a moment, she releases him from the embrace and looks at him in the eye. "The reason I started to talk to you, was because you were different from all those immature kids. And that's what I liked about you." She smiled tenderly.

"Are you serious?" he asked doubtful.

"Yes, silly..." Tifa cupped one of his cheeks in her hand to stroke him with her thumb; and then she got closer to him. "I still like you..." she whispered in his lips.

Cloud's face flushed when he felt her lips rubbing against his. Tifa backs away a bit just to look at him in the eye as if she was pleading for him to make the next move. Cloud got the message and immediately joined ther lips in a gentle but passionate kiss, which was reciprocated by Tifa. Both were lost in that moment and just focused on themselves. They longed for that moment for so long and finally they got the chance to express their feelings for each other.

Meanwhile, Denzel went downstairs to the bar to get something to drink when suddenly he saw them kissing. Surprised, he hides behind the counter with his eyes open. At first he didn't understand what was happening, but then he realized what Cloud was talking about when he said that he wanted something and he giggled to himself. Not wanting to interrupt them, Denzel sneaked out and returned to his room with a smile on his face.

The End

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><p><em><strong>AN: I absolutely adore this family! :3 **__**I finally finished this fic XD so I hope you liked it and please excuse my bad english in case you find some mistakes in it, but I would really appreciate if you point them out for me, so I can improve my writting skills 8D**_

_**Take care and don't forget to leave me a review ;3**_


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